Musings & Comments About Value of International Education and Coping With Uncertainty

See the unsettling analysis by Richard Slimbach, about the purpose of higher education in the Sept-Oct, 2014 issue of the NAFSA International Educator (sorry, available only to members online). He critiques the usual assessment of campus internationalization which focuses on inputs (dollars spent) and outputs (study abroad students); he suggests that it’s more important to examine the “educational product” itself – the student. “What kind of student do we expect to form, for what kind of world…”

Over the years, I’ve regularly commented about what others have written online in essays or blog posts… here are a few selected statements which reflect my point of view:

“…there are very few campuses in the country [the U.S.] whose study abroad or career service offices are equipped to provide the kind of [integrated] advising and oversight of learning outcomes at each stage of student decision-making and participation in study abroad.” (My research for the 2014 monograph on Campus Best Practices Supporting Study Abroad & Student Career Development confirmed this judgement)

“…while true that employers value a great many of the skills which students gain through study abroad, the best way to assist them [students] build upon their experience in the marketplace is to provide purposeful and intentionally designed preparatory programs for students before they leave campus, while they’re abroad, and after they return to campus…”